The Power of Storytelling

A few weeks ago the name TMB (Thailand Military Bank) started popping up and onto my radar. I was perplexed. Thailand isn’t exactly in our neighborhood, after all. I found myself wondering what had inspired people on my side of the pond to talk about and care about a bank 9,000 miles away. So off I went to uncover the mystery.
It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon a video posted by TMB on YouTube. A bank commercial that had inspired over a million views in just over a month? And it’s not even Super Bowl season? Hard to believe.

Only a few seconds into the video, it became abundantly clear that it wasn’t a bank commercial at all.

So what was it?

The power of storytelling.

“TMB (Thai Military Bank) has launched a new brand vision “Make THE Difference” by making a film to inspire people to start thinking differently with a hope that they will start to Make THE Difference to their own world. It doesn’t have to be big, but a little can create positive changes.”

Set in the tiny village of Koh Panyi, this five-minute mini-documentary is based on a true story. In 1986, a group of children in Koh Panyi decided they were sick of just watching soccer – and decided to build a soccer field of their own. One problem: Koh Panyi is a floating village built on stilts in the sea. It didn’t have an inch of spare soil – let alone enough space to build a soccer field.

But the children of Koh Panyi didn’t let that stop their dream. They just started thinking differently.

I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU

Writer Robert McKee once said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”

We are all storytellers…and story collectors.

Whether you’re tweeting from a concert, chatting with a colleague over morning coffee or writing the next great American novel – your story is who you are.

So…what ideas are you going to put out into the world this week? This month? This year? This lifetime?